How To Set-Up Multi-Factor Authentication In Office 365 Mailbox

Azure Multi-Factor Authentication helps to keep your identity safe and secure and it verifies that you are the authorized person to use the Office 365 account. After MFA is enabled, the user must accept a phone call & text message or app notification for the verification. Once it is verified, you can use your O365 mailbox.

Here, we are going to describe how to set-up Multi-Factor Authentication for the Office 365 Account. There are two possible ways for setting up Multi-Factor Authentication in Exchange Online User Mailbox.

Method 1 - Setup multi-factor authentication in Office 365 by the Exchange Admin Center

Here, you can easily set up multi-factor authentication by the Exchange Admin Center. For this, you have to login your O365 with your Admin Account.

Step 1

After signing in to the Exchange Administrator mailbox go to Users >> Active user. Now the all active user's window will open on the screen >> More>> Multifactor authentication option.

 

 

Step 2

Once you hit on Multifactor Authentication a new window will open on the screen. Here the MFA by default is disabled, and you can enable it by selecting the user account or clicking the Bulk Update option.

If you want to assign the authentication by selecting the user mailbox then check the box and click Enable.

 

But if you want to provide MFA in bulk form then you need to create a CSV file with the UserName or Multi-factor authentication status.

Note
For the CSV file you need to open the Microsoft Excel and type the following information.

 

Once your CSV is created, just click hit on bulk update and browse the CSV file >> and click arrow sign>> again arrow>> done. It will automatically enable the Multi-Factor Authentication Status. 

 

Step 3

When you logged into the MFA enabled account and provided the additional security verifications, here you also need to fill the required information & provide the contact number and verify it. Once your number is verified the Multi-Factor Authentication will set up automatically.

 

Method 2 - Enable Multi-Factor Authentication using PowerShell

You can also use the Windows PowerShell for assigning the MFA in Office 365 users Mailbox.

Step 1

While you are using this PowerShell process you need to provide some pre-requisites,  so read all requirements and download and install them.

1. The Azure AD Module works on the Windows Operation System and Microsoft.Net Framework. So download & install the .net Framework version according to the Windows PowerShell.
2. Microsoft Online Service Sign-In Assistant for IT Professionals RTW.
3. Azure Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell (64-bit version)

Step 2

First, open the Windows PowerShell as an administrator and type there the following command.

Get-ExecutionPolicy

If the output shows unrestricted then run the given command:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted –Scope CurrentUser

Step 3

Connect the MsolService by Windows PowerShell. Put in the all following commands one by one.

$UserCredential = Get-Credential

After entering this command you need to log in your Office 365 Admin ID and Password. Once you are logged in with the Admin account import the MSOnline module by the given command.

Import-Module MSOnline
Connect-MsolService –Credential $UserCredential

Step 4

When you connect with the MsolService put the following command.

$auth = New-Object -TypeName Microsoft.Online.Administration.StrongAuthenticationRequirement
$auth.RelyingParty = "*"

Step 5

Now you need to select the MFA status between “Enable” and “Enfor” or you can choose the date by hitting the following cmd line.

$auth.State = "Enabled"
$auth.RememberDevicesNotIssuedBefore = (Get-Date)

Step 6

In the end, you can Setup the Multi-Factor Authentication for a single user or all users by entering these commands.

For Single User,

Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName <UserPrincipalName> -StrongAuthenticationRequirements $auth

Note
In <UserPrincilalName> section you need to type the user name in which you want to enable the MFA. For example:

Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName [email protected] -StrongAuthenticationRequirements $auth

For All Users,

Get-MsolUser –All | Foreach{ Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName $_.UserPrincipalName -StrongAuthenticationRequirements $auth}

Step 7

Once it is done you need to log in to your MFA-enabled user account and provide all the required information and verify it and your Multi-Factor Authentication will successfully enable.

 

Final Verdict

 

In this post, we disused how to set up Multi-Factor Authentication in Office 365 Exchange Online Mailbox. Here, we also learned two possible ways for enabling the MFA in O365 cloud-based account. You can use any one of them. If you still have any doubt then leave a message in the comment box and I will get in touch with you.